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Prevalence, awareness and risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension among secondary school adolescents in Morogoro region, Tanzania
No full textMasters DisertationThe prevalence of non-communicable diseases is increasing rapidly in Tanzania;
triggered by changes in lifestyles, dietary patterns, and increasing early obesity. This
study reports the prevalence, awareness and risk factors for Type 2 diabetes mellitus
and hypertension among adolescents. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from
January to March 2020 which involved 384 adolescent students aged 14-19 years.
Standard procedures were used to measure weight, height, body fat percentage, blood
pressure and blood glucose. Hyperglycemia was diagnosed using American Diabetes
Association criteria while hypertension was diagnosed using American Heart
Association Guidelines for childhood hypertension. Dietary assessment was done
using a validated dietary diversity questionnaire. Physical activities were assessed
using a self-administered 7-day recall physical activity questionnaire for adolescents.
Awareness on diabetes and hypertension was obtained through self-administered
questionnaire. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences version 21 was used to
analyze descriptive statistics and bivariate logistic regression at 5% level of
significance. About 50% of the respondents were aware of type 2 diabetes mellitus
and hypertension. Prevalence of pre-diabetes was higher in urban (7.3%) compared
to rural areas (3.1%). The risk factors for pre-diabetes were overweight and obesity
(AOR 2.05; 95%CI 2.17-6.86), and elevated body fat (AOR 1.95; 95% CI 1.23-
7.18). The prevalence of hypertension was much higher in urban (17.2%) compared
to rural areas (5.7%). The risk factors for hypertension observed were overweight
and obesity (AOR 6.45 95% CI 1.64-13.94), elevated body fat (AOR 3.91 95%CI
1.94-8.96), living in urban area (AOR 3.43 95% CI 1.67-7.04) and physical inactivity
(AOR 1.98 95% CI 1.65-5.49). High prevalence of pre-diabetes and hypertension
due to high rates of overweight and obesity in adolescents was alarming. Therefore;
nutrition and healthy lifestyle education has to be integrated in school programs to
reduce the risk of developing diabetes and hypertension in the future.Professor Kaushik Ramaiy
Economic potential of newly introduced chicken strains at Farm level in selected areas of Tanzania
No full textIn Tanzania, local chicken farming is an integral part of the rural economy with a high
potential for poverty reduction and enhancing food security. However, despite its
contributions to household economy and food security, local chicken productivity remains
low because of low genetic potential, diseases and poor feeding. One of the options to
increase local chicken production and productivity is the adoption of the chicken strains
with high genetic potential. In that respect, African Chicken Genetic Gains project
introduced Sasso and Kuroiler chicken strains for on-farm testing to evaluate their
economic potential in different agro-ecological zones. The study attempted to contribute
towards the knowledge base regarding the possibility of increasing chicken production and
productivity for enhancing income of smallholder farmers in the country. This study
adopted developmental research design whereby 202 farmers in 12 sites in three regions of
Tanzania were involved. Farmers were earlier on provided with 6 six-week old chicks
which had been vaccinated against Mareks, Newcastle, Infectious Bronchitis and fowl pox.
The study was conducted in Dodoma, Morogoro and Njombe regions which differed agroecologically.
Data used were obtained through weekly farmers’ and extension officers’
records, survey, secondary data, simulation exercises, interviews, focus group discussions
and observations. The study applied a Farm Simulation Model; FARMSIM and Stochastic
Efficiency with Respect to Function to establish economic viability of these strains relative
to the local chickens. Second, it used an Adoption and Diffusion Outcome Prediction Tool
to predict the potential rate of adoption of introduced chicken strains and contributing
factors. Further, Stochastic Data Envelopment Analysis was used to determine technical,
allocative and economic efficiencies of keeping introduced strains among selected farmers.
Lastly, multivariate multiple regression model in the Just and Pope framework was applied
to investigate the effect of controllable inputs on production and variability. The results
indicate that keeping Sasso strain was the most economically viable business with the
highest Net Present Value, Net Cash Farm Income and the highest probability of attaining
economic return. Kuroiler was the second, followed by keeping local chickens without
supplementation. Keeping local chickens with supplementations was the least
economically viable enterprise. However, inclusion of risk behaviour of the farmers
revealed that extremely risk-averse farmers preferred mostly keeping local chickens
without supplementations whereas, extremely risk loving farmers preferred Sasso strain the
most. The extremely risk-averse farmers would need to receive about TZS 388 620.0 and
TZS 297 180.0 to be indifferent between keeping about 60 Sasso strain and Kuroiler strain
respectively and local chickens without supplement. The results also indicate that the peak
for adoption is likely to be 34, 29 and 38% after 8, 7 and 9 years in Bahi, Ifakara and
Wanging’ombe sites respectively. The sensitivity analysis results indicate that, the adoption
rate may increase up to 59, 49 and 57% and may decline to about 17, 16 and 21% in Bahi,
Ifakara and Wanging’ombe respectively. Results show that there is significant inefficiency
in both the Sasso and Kuroiler chicken keeping households. Further, farmers were
technically, allocatively and economically inefficient with mean indices of 19.9%, 68.8%
and 12.9% respectively. The likely cause of being inefficient was due under utilization of
key input factors with exceptional to maize bran. Furthermore, the results indicate that
there was production variability attributable to input factors. However, there was
inconsistent effect since some inputs were both variability increasing and reducing; that is,
reducing in production of birds but increasing in egg production for the same strain and
vice versa. It is likely that the full potential of these strains requires inputs in a standardised
form for reduced performance variability. The study recommends promotion and scaling up
of these strains for improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers and increasing the
sector’s contribution to country’s Gross Domestic Product. Moreover, the scaling up must
be integrated with education on technical knowledge on good farming practices, feed
formulations, biosecurity and shelter for improved productivity and reduced variability. It
is important to strengthen market integration for both inputs and outputs for improving
economic efficiency and profit maximization. Lastly, further study has to be set for
determining the farm level input mix with minimum effect on output variabilitySokoine University of Agriculture (SUA
Does homestead livestock production and ownership contribute to consumption of animal source foods? A pre-intervention assessment of rural farming communities in Tanzania
No full textScientific African 7 (2020) e00252Livestock production at homestead level is widely reported as an important pathway to achieve optimal consumption of Animal Source Foods (ASF) in a household. However, the empirical evidence is limited. This paper examines the extent of homestead livestock pro- duction and consumption of ASF by rural farming communities in four villages of Dodoma and Morogoro regions, Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey of 663 households was carried out. Interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with mothers and caregivers sought to understand livestock production and consumption patterns of ASF. Analysis techniques in- cluded Chi-square test, ANOVA and binary regression. Animal source foods were grouped into four categories; (i) meat and meat products, (ii) eggs, (iii) fish, sardines and sea foods, and (iv) milk and dairy products. The average intake of ASF was low for the entire sample, with only 26% of the population consuming at least one of the four types, even though more than half (52.5%) of the surveyed households reported to keep livestock. Generally, proportion of livestock keepers consuming ASF was slightly higher compared to their coun- terparts. Results from chi-square test indicated that, Dodoma households were more likely to consume meat ( χ2 (1) = 11.1, p = 0.0 0 0) and milk ( χ2 (1) = 10.8, p = 0.0 0 0) than Morogoro households ( χ2 (1) = 0.2, p = 0.627 and χ2 (1) = 0.02, p = 0.887). Notably consumption of fish and sardines prevailed more in Morogoro than Dodoma households. Keeping of livestock was further emerged as a significant predictor for consumption of ASF after controlling for demographic factors ( p < 0.01). Findings from FGDs further re- vealed that; low nutrition knowledge, limited number of livestock, monetary and cultural values attached to livestock were the barriers to consumption of ASF. These observations highlight a mismatch between level of production of livestock, availability and actual con- sumption of ASF in rural households. Optimizing the contribution of livestock keeping on the consumption of ASF requires a combination of effort s. These include; addressing socio- cultural norms and practices towards motives for keeping livestock, promoting good live- stock rearing practices to maintain desired stock needed for consumption and households
The effect of local government reform programme on enhancing farmers’ demand for reformed extension services in Kongwa, Bahi, Bukombe and Geita districts in Tanzania
No full textPhD ThesisReformed Extension Services were introduced by the Government of Tanzania to improve
the delivery of essential farm management skills and technologies in order to bridge the
gap between the actual and potential levels of farm productivity. These reforms were
brought about through decentralization under the Local Government Reform Programme
whereby public services were brought closer to farmers by increasing the number of
public extension agents while at the same time, encouraging the private sector to be a
major player in providing such services. Despite the adoption of Local Government
Reform Programme decentralization agenda that influenced the inception of Reformed
Extension Services, low level of crop productivity has been reported. This trend has been
one of the major challenges against achieving optimal farm productivity. This made it
imperative to assess the effects of this Programme in enhancing farmers’ demand for
reformed extension services in four districts of Bahi, Kongwa, Bukombe and Geita.
Specifically, the study examined farmers’ satisfaction with the provision of reformed
extension services, assessed farmers’ access to the reformed extension services,
determined factors that influence their level of accessibility, and lastly determined the
effects of the reformed extension services on productivity of key food crops including
maize, paddy, and sorghum. A cross-sectional survey was employed to collect data from
272 respondents who were selected through proportionate stratified sampling procedure.
Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and key informant interviews.
Content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data while descriptive and multivariate
statistics were used to analyse quantitative data. The findings from a Likert scale revealed
that the level of farmers’ satisfaction with reformed extension services was higher at 77
against 29percent of dissatisfaction. Likewise, farmers’ satisfaction level was significantly
higher than dissatisfaction. The t-test for comparing means between strongly disagree to
disagree and agree to strongly agree attitudinal statements were significantly different at p
< 0.001. However, there was an increase in the delivery of extension services after the
reforms when compared to the times before the reforms. Moreover, a Probit model of
decision to access private and public reformed extension services and likewise a zerotruncated
Poisson regression model for the level of access to private and public reformed
extension services revealed and confirmed the importance of personal and household
attributes namely age and household size; farm/plot characteristics such as farm size, farm
distance, and land tenure; and socio-economic and institutional factors such as. on-farm
training, farmers groups, and access to credits) as important factors in determining access
to the reformed extension services. Finally, a linear production function whereby reformed
extension services were entered as inputs to farm production, among other inputs,
revealed that an increase in key farm inputs, labour in terms of man-days) and capital such
as pesticides and machinery, use of fertiliser, irrigation, and improved seeds together with
the reformed extension services enhanced farm productivity. Generally, the reformed
extension services were observed to be key ingredients in enhancing productivity.
Although the Local Government Reform Programme decentralization agenda was a
reality in making local government authorities become community-based administration
at district levels, not all farmers benefited from the reformed extension services within the
study area. Moreover, the reform agenda has shown that the interplay of public and
private actors in providing extension services has significantly increased accessibility and
farmers’ demand for the improved services. Thus, alongside the public sector efforts,
heightening operations of private actors and introduction of Public-Private Partnership
arrangements in the provision of extension services, have become competitive, and costeffective.
In addition, the reformed extension services have become productivity
improving inputs alongside with improving human capacity among farmers. It is therefore
recommended that extension services reforms which included engagement of the private
sector in the provision of the service should be maintained. Furthermore, it is
recommended that future focus of the extension service reforms should be strategic and
packaged specifically for individual crops in different agro-climatological zones in
Tanzania. This will lead to increase in productivity of these crops in the areas they are
produced
The role of Village Community Banks (VICOBAs) on economic empowerment to women smallholder farmers in kilosa district, Tanzania
No full textMasters ThesisVillage Community Banks (VICOBAs) have been working in Kilosa District to empower
farmers; in particular women farmers since 2015. Some of these VICOBAs are those
which work under Rice Post-harvest Management (RIPOMA) and Norwegian Church Aid
(NCA). Some VICOBA female members benefit from the services provided. Although the
services are crucial in increasing incomes of some female members through agricultural
production, a few male members disproportionately benefit from the services provided.
Despite the fact that, some studies have explored the contribution of VICOBAs on
women’s empowerment, studies that focus on the role of VICOBAs to empower women
farmers in inputs access, agribusiness training and agricultural technologies are limited.
Therefore, the study on which this dissertation is based was done with the main objective
to determine the role of VICOBAs, specifically Inter-religious VICOBAs (IR-VICOBAs),
on economic empowerment of women farmers in the District. Probability and nonprobability
sampling methods were used to select villages, respondents and key informants
from VICOBA groups that engage in agricultural activities. The sample size was 100
women VICOBA members who are also smallholder farmers. In a primary data collection,
a questionnaire-based survey, FGDs and key informant interviews were employed. The
quantitative data were analysed using Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
Statistics Version 20 whereby descriptive analysis was done. Qualitative data was analysed
using content analysis. The study revealed that, more than 80 percent of respondents
received services (input access, agribusiness training and agricultural technologies) that
lead to their economic empowerment from farming business. This study recommends that,
agricultural actors and other faith based organisations should be employing VICOBAs as
platforms to empower women farmers
Chikungunya knowledge, attitude, and practices and its Transmission indices in Tanga city, north-eastern Tanzania
No full textMasters ThesisChikungunya is among the important re-emerging arboviral disease caused by
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an alphavirus belonging to Togaviridae family. Since the
first outbreak in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) in 1952/53, several outbreaks are constantly
being reported in different parts of the world. So far, there is no commercially available
vaccine or drug effective for Chikungunya management. Vector control is the main
option. This study aimed to determine the Chikungunya knowledge, attitudes and
practices and its transmission indices in Tanga City, north-eastern Tanzania. This crosssectional
study was conducted in Tanga city, involving Nguvumali, Mzingani and Central
wards. In this study, mosquitoes were collected by a Mosquito Magnet Liberty Plus trap
in six selected sites (two sites per ward). Larvae surveys were conducted to randomly
selected households. A questionnaire on knowledge, attitude and practices
regarding Chikungunya was administered to heads/members of households where larval
surveys were conducted. Mosquitoes were identified morphologically. Detection of
CHIKV in Aedes aegypti was done using one step reverse transcription polymerase chain
reaction (RT-PCR). Majority of the respondents (88%) were unaware of Chikungunya
fever and its associated information. A total of 1469 adult mosquitoes were collected and
identified into four species. Aedes aegypti was the most abundant (73.52%). Larvae
survey involved 101 households and out of them 88 water holding containers were
surveyed. The House Index (HI), Container Index (CI) and Breteaux Index (BI) were
40.59%, 60.2% and 52.5% respectively. Female Ae. aegypti were pooled into 44 pools (20
mosquito/pool) for detection of CHIKV and 7 pools were positive for CHIKV. In
conclusion, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are abundant and local transmission of CHIKV is
taking place in Tanga city. The community knowledge and practices as regards to
Chikungunya is low. Further research should be carried out to assess the status of
Chikungunya transmission in human population in Tanga.(SACIDS-ACE
Infrastructure sharing for cellular Networks in Tanzania: a cost reduction analysis with game approach
No full textJournal articleInfrastructure sharing is a practical resource utilization strategy among mobile network operators
(MNOs). The rapid growth of data flow and technology migration has increased the costs for both
infrastructure deployment and management. Hence, to ensure effective resource utilization, researchers
propose a joint venture towers construction for the mobile network in Tanzania. Cost reduction
analysis for tower construction has been done through game theory. It has been observed that there
is significant cost saving by the MNOs sharing the infrastructure. Based on game theory, it was
found that 50% of the cost can be saved when the MNOs cooperate in tower construction, which in
turn improves services to the users and increase the network rollout to the remote area. In general,
network infrastructure sharing (NIS) benefits both operators and the public at large. The MNOs can
have a significant financial saving by avoiding the costs of construction or upgrading the overlapping
sites, consolidating the existing sites, and by reducing expenses related to rents, maintenance, and
transmission
Health and nutritional status of children (6-59 months) with severe acute malnutrition and diarrhea: follow up after discharge from Amana regional referral hospital
No full textIntroduction: Concomitant occurrence of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and diarrhoea
increases child risk poor health outcomes. Prevalence and influence of diarrhoea in
children with SAM after discharge from Hospital was investigated. Method: A ninety (90)
days hospital-based prospective cohort study that followed up 76 children with SAM aged
6 to 59 months old treated at Amana Regional Referral Hospital in Dar-es-Salaam from
September 2019 to March 2020. Data on socio-economic and demographic characteristics
and medical history were collected up on enrolment and during the follow up. Incidence
density (ID) was used to quantify the frequency of occurrence of health outcomes.
Incidence Density rate (IDR) was used to quantify the difference in rates while T-test and
Chi-Square tests were used to compare difference in mean or percentage values. Results:
Seventy six (76) children were enrolled into the study, 50 children (65.8%) had data for
more than 2 visits, and 26 (34.2%) had complete data for 7 visits. Of the children enrolled,
64 (84.2%) were treated as inpatients while 12 (15.8%) were treated as outpatients.
Oedema was significantly more prevalent among children without diarrhoea (55.0%) than
in children with diarrhoea (23.3%, p < 0.05) while the outcome of severe wasting was
significantly more prevalent in children with diarrhoea (26.7%) than in children without
diarrhoea (15.00%, p< 0.05). Children with diarrhoea had significantly longer duration of
fever (Mean 6.07days, SD 6.71, p < 0.05) and poor appetite (Mean 25.80 days, SD 36.35,
p < 0.05) than children without diarrhoea (Mean 2.35 days, SD 3.66 and Mean 3.30, SD
6.88, respectively). Neither the presence of diarrhoea nor admission status had significant
effect on the outcome in mortality during the study (p> 0.05) Conclusion: The study
found that after discharge from the hospital there is a higher occurrence of common
medical complications such as fever, chest symptoms, vomiting and poor appetite in
children with diarrhoea during follow up than in children without diarrhoea
Livelihood assessments among small-holder farmers in the Southern agricultural growth corridor in Tanzania: Lessons from households in ihemi cluster
No full textThe study on which this paper is based assessed livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Ihemi cluster.
Specifically, the study looked at the identification of institutional factors governing the use of water
and land resources, determinants of the factors influencing male and female-headed households’
income inequalities, and lastly, the comparison of agriculture production between male and female-
headed households. The methodology involved a cross-sectional research design with a sample
size of 150 households. Purposive sampling technique was used to select Ihemi cluster among
other clusters of the SAGCOT intervention and stratified sampling technique was used to select
respondents. The main method of data collection used were a structured household questionnaire-
based survey and focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression and
independent T-test statistics were used to analyze the data. Descriptively, majority (66.7%) of the
respondents in Mufindi and Wanging'ombe district were married followed by Kilolo (56.7%). Very
few respondents (3.3%) in Iringa district were single and very few had divorced (3.3%) in Mufindi
district. Further, findings indicate that the number of Female Headed Households (FHH) is slightly
higher in Njombe district (46.7%) followed by Kilolo (43.3%), Iringa district (40%), Wanging'ombe
(36.7%) and relatively less in Mufindi (33.3%). The compounded independent T-test for mean
production difference revealed that, there was a significant difference in production scores for
male-headed households (M=12.4, SD=9.1) and that of female-headed household (M=9.4, SD=
7.8) conditions; t (142) = -3.233 and p=0.002, indicating significant indifference between male and
female-headed households in the cluster. Furthermore, multiple linear regression model revealed
that land ownership, access to credit, number of livestock owned, household education level and
household size were found had significant influence on male and female-headed households’
income inequalities. On the institutional factors, water sources such as shared taps, private owned
taps, wells covered are for domestic purposes only while water sources such as streams, springs
and rivers can be used for domestic purposes, livestock watering, watering gardens and irrigation.
With this, general hygiene should be maintained and agreed contribution for maintenance in case
of breakdowns. The study recommends that, diversification of income sources between female
headed households and male headed households should be encouraged, fostering of community-
investor linkage and increase access and control over natural resources such as land to female-
headed households who are important actors in agriculture in rural areas as thy depend on land
for their livelihoods. Conclusively, at the household level, female-headed households should have
the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase productivity significantly.
Women are good drivers for change towards more sustainable production system
Effects of inorganic fertilizer application and supplementary feeding on water physico-chemical parameters, growth performance and yield of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) cultured in earthen ponds
No full textInternational Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research, Volume 5; Issue 3; 2020; Page No. 29-37This study was carried out for 180 days to assess the growth performance, water physico-chemical parameters, yield and
profitability of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) culture in earthen ponds. The fish were reared in nine earthen ponds with
average size of 177 m 2 and subjected to three treatments i.e. pond fertilization alone (T 1 ), concentrate feeding alone (T 2 ) and a
combination of pond fertilization plus concentrate feeding (T 3 ). Sex- reversed Nile tilapia fingerlings were stocked at a density
of 3 fish/m 2 . For T 1 and T 3 , urea and Diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizers were applied in pond water weekly at a rate of
3 g/m 2 and 2 g/m 2 , respectively. For T 2 and T 3 the fish were fed a diet containing 25.1% crude protein (CP) at a rate of 5% and
2.5% of body weight, respectively. Pond water physico-chemical parameters were measured weekly. A total of 30 fish from
each pond were harvested biweekly and individually measured for body weight and length. Dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, Secchi
disk reading, conductivity, salinity, phosphorous, nitrate and alkalinity differed (p ≤ 0.05) but temperature did not differ (p >
0.05) among treatments. In all treatments the water quality parameters were within the acceptable range for tilapia culture. Within
a 24 hours period, DO, pH and temperature were highest at 1500 hours and lowest at 0600 hours. The fish reared under T 3
showed higher (p < 0.05) body weight gain (194.1 ± 4.5 g), growth rate (GR) (1.5 ± 0.1 g/day), estimated yield (13 065 ± 458
kg/ha/year) and gross margin (12 364.41 ± 1 376.75 USD/ha) than those under the other treatments. The FCR was higher (4.1 ±
0.3) for the fish subjected to T 2 and lower (2.0 ± 0.1) for the fish reared under T 3 . The highest condition factor (K) (2.54 ± 0.0)
was observed for the fish reared in ponds under T 1 whereas fish under T 2 had the lowest value (2.05 ± 0.0). It is concluded that,
the combination of pond fertilization plus concentrate feeding (T 3 ) is the best strategy for rearing Oreochromis niloticus, since
it reduces feed utilization and results into higher growth performance and profit